Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn Book 6)(87)

Sixty-Three





Josie and Noah picked up takeout on their way back to her house. Misty and Harris were already asleep in the spare bedroom. They scarfed their meal down in the kitchen while Josie texted Trinity to see if she was still awake. A moment later, Trinity called.

“You’re still up?” Josie asked when she answered.

“Not for much longer,” Trinity said. “I was hoping you’d call. I hear the police there aren’t giving the press anything but that there has been a ton of police activity in your area. I also heard from my WYEP contact that Amy Ross is in the hospital. What gives?”

“There were some developments. Amy was injured. I can’t say more than that.”

There was a beat of silence. Then Trinity said, “If you weren’t my sister, I would never let you off the hook with just that. I’ll say this: I want an exclusive when this is all said and done. I’m doing all this work, and you’re not telling me anything.”

Josie laughed. “Because I can’t. You know that.”

“Don’t worry. I always get the story.”

Josie laughed. “I know you do. I assume you didn’t uncover anything useful about Amy—or Tessa—today since you didn’t call.”

“I’m sorry, Josie. I interviewed two of the living Lendhardt men here in Buffalo and the widow of one of the Lendhardts who passed away. None of them ever knew a Tessa, and none of them recognized Amy’s photo or the age-regressed photo I had made of her.”

“Age-regressed photo?”

“Yeah we did a story a few years back about how this genealogy company was using age regression software to restore damaged or destroyed photos. They also do it if you bring them a photo of an ancestor and for fun, you can have the photo regressed to see what the relative looked like when they were a kid. Anyway, I still have a contact at that company so I asked her to age-regress Amy’s photo to between sixteen and eighteen so I could use it in interviews. I’ve been showing her current photo as well, but I’m thinking if she lived here twenty-two years ago or more, people’s memories might be sparked by the younger version of Amy or Tessa or whatever her name is.”

“That’s actually kind of amazing,” Josie said.

“Tomorrow I’ll track down the other two living Lendhardts and then interview the neighbors of the other one who passed away since it doesn’t appear that he had any family.”

“Let me know if you find anything,” Josie said.

She hung up and helped Noah up the steps to her bedroom. Once inside, Noah sat on the edge of her bed and propped his crutches against the end table. “How long do you think Misty is staying?” he asked.

Josie rummaged through her dresser, looking for something comfortable to wear. “I don’t know,” she said. “Until she feels safe going home.”

Noah laughed. “You realize that could be never, don’t you?”

“No,” Josie said. “Misty’s strong and independent. She’s just having a hard time with this abduction case. I think once it’s over, she’ll feel better going home.”

Josie stripped down, leaving her clothes on the floor and pulled a large T-shirt over her head. She climbed into bed and stretched out on her back. “Does it bother you that much?”

“No,” Noah said. “It doesn’t. It’s just hard to remember that we have to be quiet, so we don’t wake Harris.”

He hefted his cast onto the bed and shifted so he was sitting up, his back against the headboard. He reached over and stroked her hair. “Why did you really not tell me about getting shot today?”

“I thought I might be pregnant,” Josie said.

“Are you?”

“No,” Josie said softly.

The moment stretched out between them. Noah’s fingers continued to roam softly over her scalp.

Finally, Noah said, “I thought you might be too.”

Josie looked up at him. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I figured you’d bring it up when you were ready. Plus, this case…”

Josie shifted closer to him. He shimmied down so he was flat on his back and she rested her cheek against his chest. Tears leaked from her eyes and wet his T-shirt. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

His hand moved to her back, fingers tracing her shoulder blades. “What’s that?”

“When I was on your mom’s case last month and I went to Sullivan County to follow up on that lead, I spent the night at Luke’s.”

“I know.”

Her head popped up. She looked into his hazel eyes. “What?”

“We couldn’t find you, remember? I was the one who suggested Trinity check Luke’s sister’s place. I figured it was the one place in Sullivan County you knew how to get to, so you’d probably go there.”

“Did you know Luke would be there?”

Noah shrugged. “Well, where else would he go after he left prison? That was their family home, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Josie said. “It was. You weren’t worried?”

“About what?”

“I don’t know, that something would happen between me and Luke.”